User blog:StathisTM/Red Star 7 Meta (Personal Opinion)
Since the newest update, there have been a lot of changes to cerb layouts throughout the Red Stars. The difficulty has been spiced up a bit, especially in Rs7 and above, with the introduction of the Bomber. The old meta required little strategy, everything happened mechanically. There was one primary way of engaging a planet sector, send a battleship in, EMP and follow with the rest. Although this is still viable (if not recommended) in Red Star level 6 and lower, once you try the same against a tier 7 planet sector (or most of them), its more than likely that you will fail...in just the first few seconds of the engagement. And there is one culprit for this, the Bomber. Either it being on the same sector you are engaging, or in an adjacent one, the bomber is a major threat to all stationary ships, especially ones that are stunned (due to lets say, EMP). Its rockets, being able to do 4k damage to all ships in their blast range, can chew threw most shields in a matter of seconds. The frequency of those (one for each participating player -who's ship is in range of them- every 20 seconds) as well as the possibility of multiple bombers adjacent to each other, cripples and punishes the players who have yet to adapt to the new meta. What's the new meta you ask? The short answer: barrier, coordination and teamwork. Barrier was never a go-to mod for Red Stars (excluding barrage builds), it always was a primary White Star mod (and a vital one at that). Now, if you aren't using barrier in rs7+, you are basically willingly accepting defeat before you finish scanning. There is just no other better counter to the rocket spam caused by the bombers, even in WS, barrier was used 99% of the time to counter or delay rockets, why do you think it wont fit in the new RS(7+) meta? But of curse, there will be players that wont adapt, id say to ignore them, they'll -and excuse me for my language- just get their asses handed to them every time they do an rs, and even complain about it (essentially complaining about their own inabilities, disguising it with phrases such as "a broken game"). Now, back to barrier. As I said before, its great for missile control, not only that, but it can keep the fleeing bomber in weapons range allowing your duals to ramp up, something that you would actually want to avoid without barrier, as you would ideally want to target the incoming rockets (that have 1k hull hp and deal 1.2k damage when destructed mind you). So, what builds would I recommend? Well, something that allows you to support your teammates even if you spawn at an opposite side to them so teleport is still a strong choice, further more, include at least 2x barrier , that will hopefully allow you to clear multiple planets and not worry about not having enough of them. About weapons, I couldn't recommend something to you, running 2x batt and one dual can be as viable as running 2x dual and one batt, what will matter is this: don't solo planets especially if you haven't gotten the hang of it, clear in duos! I recommend duos because even if you have to deal with adjacent bombers, the rocket spam will still be manageable , and also you will (hopefully) have around 2-4 barriers handy, so you don't have to worry about rockets stacking on barrier and ultimately obliterating your fleet to smithereens when it runs out. Also, something that I almost forgot, blast shield! Its a neat little shield used to absorb the damage of the rockets when they are neutralized (not meant to absorb the full damage of the rocket, it will deplete fast!). So essentially, barrier is used to stop rockets from going ka-boom on your ships, yay! Now, more on the coordination part, really, you shouldn't worry about that much. Even if you have silent teammates, all you need to do is focus on a planet together and just time your barriers, as well as your initial EMP to avoid unnecessary casualties, cause the last thing you want is loosing a ship, you wont be able to warp in another one to take its place. One thing though is very important, make sure your teammate is aware of the importance of barrier, you don't want to use up all your barriers and loose all hope when you see those stacked rockets coming down at you. You will now ask, what is this? Why is this guy praising barrier so much? The answer is simple, you will fail if you run without it, you will just be unable to effectively deal with the rocket spam and that's that, end of discussion. Disclaimer: I am not above rs7, everything that I said is from my experience in my current rs level, and only has to do with my current rs level. Category:Blog posts